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If you're hanging new doors onto old frames, you will need to cut or "mortise" new hinges onto the door. New doors, also known as door "blanks," have smooth sides without any existing hinge locations. This design allows you to place the hinges anywhere you like on the door to match existing frames. You can save money when remodeling or building a home by purchasing door blanks and cutting the hinge mortises yourself. You can do it with a hammer and chisel.

1

Transfer the hinge locations from the door frame. If your frame already has hinge mortises, stand or lay the door inside the frame as if it were already installed in the frame. Use a pencil to trace the hinge mortise locations onto the door blank. Remove the door from the frame. If neither the door nor the frame has hinge mortises, then skip this step.

2

Set the door on its side, with the inside edge of the door where the hinges will go facing up, against a stable surface, such as a work bench.

3

Place the hinge on the door as if it were already installed on the door. If you have pencil markings from the frame, place the hinge there. If you don't have frame markings, typical hinge placement is 5 inches from the top of the top hinge to the top of the door and 10 inches from the finished floor to the bottom of the bottom hinge. You also can use an existing door or frame for reference.

4

Trace around the hinge plate with a pencil. Using a utility knife, cut the hinge tracing to a depth of 1/8 inch.

5

Hold a chisel vertically, perpendicular to the door at the entry point of the hinge tracing. It should be positioned so that when you tap on the end of the chisel with a hammer, it moves across the grain into the hinge tracing, cutting across the grain, 1/16 inch deep to the other side of the tracing.

6

Tap and reposition the chisel so that you cut out all the wood inside the hinge tracing to a depth of 1/16 inch. Go back over the tracing with the chisel, cutting another 1/16 inch deep until the hinge tracing is flat on the bottom.

7

Place the hinge plate into the cutout tracing. If it doesn't fit flat, use the chisel to scrape and cut the bottom, sides or corners of the tracing until the plate fits flat and snug into the tracing. Tap the plate into the cutout with a hammer if you need to.

8

Screw the hinge tight into the cutout using a cordless gun and 1-inch screws.

Things You Will Need

Utility knife

1/2-inch chisel

Hammer

Cordless screw gun

1-inch screws

Tips

Some hinges have a slightly rounded corners. Round this kind of corner out with a 1/8-inch chisel or the tip of the utility knife.

There are usually only two hinges on interior doors and three on exterior doors. This depends on manufacturer and type of door. If the door needs three hinges, center the middle one between the upper and lower hinges.

Warning

About the Author

Specializing in hardwood furniture, trim carpentry, cabinets, home improvement and architectural millwork, Wade Shaddy has worked in homebuilding since 1972. Shaddy has also worked as a newspaper reporter and writer, and as a contributing writer for Bicycling Magazine. Shaddy began publishing in various magazines in 1992, and published a novel, “Dark Canyon,” in 2008.